Whether we are simply listeners or people involved in bringing musicians to public attention, the ultimate quest remains the same: to discover and champion musicians, writers and/or singers whose ability is so remarkable, it feels as if everything they do is inherently special.

Howe rare they are, these people who truly deserve the epithet, 'artist'

There is, of course, a great difference between being widely recognized as an artist and actually being an artist. Popularity and media acclaim often seem to me to add a certain cloudiness to the atmosphere. I wouldn't disagree (but might quibble) with any of the names mentioned above, not the ones I recognized anyway, but I think there's a tremendous number of lesser known, but great, artists still with us. Off the top of my head, I'll suggest Taj Mahal and Thierry 'Titi' Robin â€” and Pharoah Sanders.

From Bob Lefsetz's piece about him and his Astral Weeks concert last weekend, posted by Norman elsewhere:

''What struck me most was the master at work. Fronting a 13 piece band like it was his... It seemed effortless. Like he was born to do this.

And maybe he was. To think this used to be a reasonable profession. To be a musician. Following your muse around the world. Not worried so much about your chart position or your audience as getting it right in your own mind. Figuring people would follow you if you got close to the flame, if you nailed it for yourself.

Heâ€™s past sixty. Heâ€™s not skinny enough to be on a sitcom. But with his hat and sunglasses, his fine clothing, Van Morrison was a star. You didnâ€™t sit in the audience thinking YOU could do this. You were watching a virtuoso at work."

Although he uses the word 'musician' rather than 'artist', it seems to me that's probably about as good a description as there could be of what Charlie was getting at in his original post...

And talking of Damon is anyone going to the first night/press night of Monkey at the O2 tomorrow?

The extraordinary thing is that I think Monkey is going to end up making him more famous than Blur and Gorillaz combined.I saw it described in The Guardian at the weekend as the new Cirque du Soleil - it's going to end up running on five continents simultaneously with different casts.

Who would have thought it? Well me, actually. When I first met him ten years ago I wrote a piece saying that he had the potential to become 'the David Bowie of his generation'. I think he has now not only achieved but surpassed that, and if I had a pound for every time my 'Bowie of his generation' phrase has been repeated since, I would be almost as rich as Damon himself!

For me, he meets the over-riding requirement of the true 'artist' - namely, that he believes the ultimate artistic sin is to repeat yourself. He's told me on more than one occasion that the day he thinks he has repeated himself is the day he will retire...